


Where My Feet May Take Me

by silver_of_the_stars



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Self-Indulgent, Slow Burn, here you go, i literally cant write but, im trying i swear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:33:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25000945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_of_the_stars/pseuds/silver_of_the_stars
Summary: As gentle light glints off of the shattered glass and long-discarded weapons in the grass, scattering rainbows and dots of light into the shadows that creep up like vines, two friends face each other and wonder if they spent their entire lives waiting for this moment to arrive.-What if Naruto and Sasuke's roles as dark and light were reversed? How would things change?Sasuke learns to suppress the power of his Curse Mark and abandons his revenge, but Naruto becomes overrun by hatred and animosity.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 10
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

Sasuke Uchiha is not chivalrous. 

No, while he may be a knight, cool and suave and unbeatable, he is not chivalrous. He is callous, rough, unconcerned with the world around him. Why should he be? There are so many other things he must do, so little time he has — time he is wasting here. He should be getting stronger, faster, better, so he can act upon the resentment he has carried in his small glass heart for so long.

Fangirls chatter and mob around him, crowding so close silky locks of hair twist together. He can smell citrus perfume and lavender shampoo, and while they aren't unpleasant scents, he leans far, far away. He has half a mind to curse whoever it was that started the rumor that he liked girls with long hair.

"Sasuke?" A girl asks, reaching forward with her hand to caress his cheek. He does not hesitate to swat away her touch, and a collective swoon goes up from the crowd. He does not know what they are doing. Admiring his glacial stare that tells them to back off? Wanting to be the exception to his impassive behavior? None of them would ever know. They never could.

Sasuke hates it because though he complains to himself about such things, he knows he does not want them to understand, does not want them to see under the mask he wears so perfectly. 

As he sits, he suddenly hears the sound of feet landing heavily, and there is orange and blue before him as he looks straight into a pair of brilliant cerulean eyes. 

"What's so great about you?" the boy demands as he settles on top of the pristine desk now scuffed and dusty as his shoe soles find purchase on wood. Sasuke realizes this is the first time someone has spoken to him so crudely. There is no facade, no sucking up or fawning over the last of the Uchiha clan. He recognizes him to be Naruto Uzumaki, the failure and cause of the discrepancy in the class. He does not blame him for getting so royally pissed. 

Still, he does not reply. No one would ever understand.

"Just beat him up, Sasuke!" a call floats over from the mob of girls that have moved away from the disturbance that now crouches on his desk. Sasuke ignores it and instead holds the glare sent his way. Their intense showdown drags out, and the surrounding chatter becomes background noise as Sasuke focuses solely on the Uzumaki before him. 

And just like that, they're kissing. Sasuke's not sure when or how it happened, but he's startled by it, and he fights to get away because he doesn't like that. He always knows what's coming; why couldn't he see this?

Finally, they slip apart, and he spends half a heartbeat frozen before he turns and starts gagging. Naruto does the same, and now they're both busy coughing, trying to erase that kiss as if it never happened. 

"My mouth is rotting!" Naruto exclaims loudly, and Sasuke sends him a dirty look in response.

There are cries of outrage from the mob of fangirls that were watching, a furious tide of squinting mascara and lip gloss as the kiss finally seems to register in their minds. Naruto looks around helplessly at the wrath he has brought upon himself. He glares at Sasuke once more as if pinning the blame on him. Sasuke lets out a sigh—as if he were the one who instigated the whole thing.

It's at that moment that Iruka Sensei walks in, and Sasuke doesn't think he's ever felt so grateful toward the man before as he alleviates the tension in the air. He claps his hands and tells everyone to take their seats. Thus begins another day of learning nothing, and Sasuke turns to look out the window. He presses his fingertips to his lips quietly, discreetly.

The sky seems to pale compared to those blue, blue eyes.

* * *

They all pass their orientation. Sasuke reluctantly forces himself to admit to his team isn't half bad.

He'd been unimpressed when their teams were announced. Sakura, one of his fangirls, and Naruto, the boy who kissed him, together on his team? What a joke. He was far superior to them. After today's exercise, though, he had to admit Naruto was better than he'd expected, pulling maneuvers that even Sasuke couldn't see coming. However, their teacher didn't seem to have much trouble evading the attacks. That said, Sakura paled in comparison. She did nothing but scream and faint (and chase after Sasuke), although she did give up her lunch to Naruto.

Even so, they are so many levels below Sasuke, and he cannot be bothered to continue studying them for ways to get stronger. 

No, Sasuke's issue is with the nonchalant Kakashi, who took them down with such ease that Sasuke felt tears of frustration prick at the back of his eyes as they went through the survival exercise. Despite him pulling all the stops on his teacher, he had not gotten the bells. He had lost.

Sasuke thought he was good already, graduating at the top of his class. But to be shown what a difference in power there was between him and a Jonin-class ninja made him feel like the biggest loser in the world. It was quite safe to say Kakashi was many, many times cooler than him, but Sasuke refused to admit to himself that he was envious.

But of course, he doesn't have time to press for answers as Sakura practically bounces up to him with stars twinkling in her eyes. "Do you want to go for a bite to eat?" she chirps, trying to pull Sasuke's hand from his pocket so she can lace her fingers with his. Sasuke steps away, shifting his eyes toward her, and watches as Sakura's face grows redder at his lack of response. "I-I mean, to celebrate that we passed! You know? We're ninjas now. Adults."

"Didn't you learn anything from the exercise today?" Sasuke asks. Then he continues, bluntly, "You were absolutely useless. Go home and study. The least you could do is get smarter."

Sasuke watches as Sakura's face falls and turns gloomy. 

"Hey, Sasuke! You'd better take that back! Sakura's amazing, you know!" Naruto yells loudly in his ear. Sasuke flinches violently, his shoulders tensing up as he whips his head around, and Sakura tilts her head as she gazes at them both. 

"Naruto, you might be above Sakura's level, but that doesn't mean you're any good either. It seems like the Shadow Clone Jutsu is the only thing you can use," Sasuke shoots back, and he thinks it was a nice recovery.

Naruto frowns at his remark. "Just you watch Sasuke! I'm gonna get strong, even stronger than you, and become a Hokage that surpasses all the others!"

"Me, too! Getting stronger, I mean. Not becoming Hokage," Sakura interjects, her downcast eyes snapping up as she joins in with Naruto in making stupid promises she won't be able to keep. Sasuke almost pities the two. 

"You all have your own goals, but the path to achieving those dreams you have will be difficult. You will face adversity, and whether you cower before it or flip it off is up to you," Kakashi chimes out of nowhere. Sasuke swears under his breath, flinching, and corrects his previous thought. Naruto isn't the only one who can catch him off-guard anymore. He sees Naruto and Sakura giggling and whispering to each other about how he said flip it off.

Sasuke only sighs and turns to walk home to a cold, empty house that still smells like death.

He does not allow himself to smile. What use would that be?

* * *

When Sasuke goes to the Land of Waves, he experiences two moments of a sudden epiphany.

The first is when he witnesses Kakashi's Sharingan and feels his frightening intent to kill, that intensity equally matched and thrown back by Zabuza Momochi. He gets a taste of what it really means to want to kill someone, and he realizes that if he wants to kill that man, this is the level he will have to achieve, and just thinking about it almost makes him sick.

Sick enough to turn his own blade against himself. 

He'd really rather die than stand this pressure any longer, he decides, because the charged air is so saturated and heavy Sasuke feels as if he will suffocate to death eventually, anyway. His trembling kunai presses softly against his stomach as he prepares to plunge it in, desperate to run run run run run. He's not thinking rationally, he knows, but Sasuke doubts he will ever again. It's enough to make his head spin.

But Kakashi reassures him, and even though Sasuke knows the sense of security provide should not make him feel the way he does, he decides to trust his teacher and relaxes, away from the bloodlust running so deep he could taste it, poignant on his tongue. He knew he should be reveling in the feeling of hatred because that was what he believed had driven him all this time.

And yet at that moment, he cannot bring himself to care.

The second is when he and Naruto are trapped by Haku inside his ice mirrors, and he (she? Sasuke doesn't know, he doesn't care, that's the least of his worries now) is so, so fast, and Sasuke knows he is going to die without ever having fulfilled his real goal.

Naruto has collapsed, already exhausted, and Sasuke cannot keep up much longer as he continues covering for him. His Sharingan serves him well, better than he could've imagined, but his body can't keep up.

Yet, Sasuke does not feel he is fighting out of obligation or necessity like he imagined it would be if he ever had to defend his teammates. No, he is simply overcome with the desire to protect, but he does not know where that desire is rising from, has never felt it before, and cannot stop as his body moves once more to take a hit for Naruto.

When had he become so pliant, so willing to die?

Sasuke had found it ridiculous that Kakashi chose to accept the mission when they found out that Tazuna, for all the reeking alcohol on his breath, was essential to his land and being hunted by other ninja. But he knew he could not complain and wanted an excuse to test out his power and improve.

If Sasuke had known it would turn out like this, defending someone he could hardly call a friend and realizing things about himself he never wanted to realize, he would never have agreed, would have turned right back around and gone back to the village to continue his training.

"Sasuke?" Naruto's weak voice calls out from behind him, and Sasuke fights back the black dots that dance in the corners of his vision as he turns to look at Naruto — a fatal mistake. Another senbon buries itself in his shoulder, and he finds himself tipping back. He lands in warm arms instead of cold bridge and sinks down into them, his eyelids growing heavy with fatigue. He has no chakra or strength left; he cannot fight until he replenishes one or the other.

"Why?" Naruto asks, and his eyes are so desperate for an answer it's almost laughable. "Why would you..."

But Sasuke cannot explain to another person what he does not understand himself, so mumbles as such before he finally gives in to the sweet lull of darkness.

* * *

Once Sasuke wakes up, and they return home, he refuses to talk to Naruto about what happened and pretends nothing has changed, acts like he didn't almost give his life to save the sparky boy.

Sakura doesn't seem to understand that what happened held much more importance to them than it did to her. She does her best to alleviate the tension, and as much as Sasuke appreciates the effort, it's not working. Neither of them wants it to work because they've now gotten a taste of each other's power levels as well as the strength of other ninjas. "We need to get better" is the unspoken thought that hangs in the air, what makes them restless as they wait for Kakashi to show up.

"Come on, you two! I don't know what happened, but this is ridiculous," Sakura pipes up again, her eyes shifting between the two of them. When neither gives a reply, she sighs, and Sasuke takes it as a sign that she's given up trying to play peacemaker.

When Kakashi does show up, the heavy air has cleared a bit already, and they go off on easy missions, weeding and walking dogs and catching lost cats. Sasuke doesn't mind the tasks as much as Naruto seems to. They give him time to recollect himself and consider his next course of action. Now knowing that he and Naruto stand on such equal ground bothers him, and he needs to get better, more durable. But as he watches Naruto move through minor tasks with difficulty and the grace of a lumbering boar, he feels worse about himself for losing to such an idiot. Sasuke wonders at times whether the hate he feels toward that man or Naruto is greater.

Still, on the days when the sky is clear and blue, he finds himself passing his fingertips over his lips, over and over again, remembering those eyes.

Time passes slowly, and Sasuke still gets no stronger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant for this fic to start either with Naruto or Sakura's point of view, but because of how little Sasuke reveals at first, I wanted to toy with that. This is what happened! There will be chapters written from other characters' points of view going forward. This story will be canon divergent, and I may skim over things that happen in canon that stay the same (i.e., the Land of Waves arc in this chapter). However, I will address each event to show how the characters' feelings change!
> 
> Also, neither Sasusaku nor Naruhina will be canon at the end of this. The main focus of this story probably will not border too much around romance aside from the apparent Sasunaru. I'm still uncertain about what the other endgame ships will be, but if you have any suggestions, feel free to comment!
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I am open to constructive criticism!


	2. Chapter 2

Every day since the Land of Waves incident has been peaceful and unobtrusive. Team 7's missions reverted to those of simple chores around the village. No one else knew about the tragedy of Zabuza and Haku; no one else had felt that pain and seen with their own eyes what it meant to be a shinobi. So Naruto pretended not to know too because it was something he wished he'd never learned about at all. He runs around the village without care, fighting to stave back nightmares he had even while conscious.

Still, it's no real surprise when it takes Naruto a few seconds to process as Konohamaru, who he'd been running around with, rams into a peculiar guy wearing face paint, and that imminent feeling of danger comes back. The hairs on the back of his neck rise, but Naruto forces himself to calm down. Not only does he not know if the face-paint man is dangerous or not, but he's also become far too jumpy for it to be normal and his senses are skewered. For a few moments, there is silence before the man's face contorts into one of aggravation. Naruto berates himself for not acting sooner. The face-paint man narrows his eyes, grabbing Konohamaru by his scarf, and he yells, "Watch where you're going!"

Moegi and Udon immediately move to cower behind Sakura, who stands to his right. There's a woman next to the man, Naruto notes, but she doesn't make a move, and he rules her out as a threat. It's too slow, his intake of information, Naruto thinks as he leaps forward to help. Sasuke could gather up twice as much in a single glance. He gets knocked away by the man as easily as a leaf in the wind as he swings wildly, and Naruto tumbles back further than he thought he would, unable to break his fall. Perhaps it will all end here, he thinks bitterly, as he struggles to get back up. He sees the stranger raise his fist, and then...

A stone clatters to the ground, and he drops Konohamaru, clutching his hand to his chest.

"Sasuke!" Sakura squeals and Naruto feels his gut twist because it's always Sasuke Sasuke Sasuke. Why was it always him? Why did he still feel the need to show off the way he did? He stands in the shade of a tree, high on a branch with hands stuffed in his pockets in his signature pose.

"You brat," the face-paint man snarls. He brings his arm up before freezing as he slowly shifts his gaze away from Sasuke, and Naruto's eyes follow track. A deathly cold breeze seems to blow through the air even though it's summer. On the branch across from Sasuke, a redhead with no eyebrows to be seen within the vicinity hangs masterfully from a branch, his arms crossed, and eyeliner dark.

Naruto instinctively shrinks into himself. The aura the new guy gives off is different, but it's not one he hasn't felt before. He's sensed it in himself, too, when he succumbed to the will of the Nine-Tails. It's the same type of ensnaring suffocation, the same feeling as the voice that told him to let go of everything painful and give in to the comfortable lull of unconsciousness. But that voice had been his own, and since then, Naruto has wondered: what if he is the demon itself? What was to say that his psyche hadn't already been taken over? But he forces himself to shake that away because there are more important things to worry about now.

"You're an embarrassment to our village, Kankuro."

When the redhead speaks, he has the voice of a boy who hasn't yet hit puberty, but his tone rumbles as deep and enamoring as dark tar. Naruto decides in that split second that he will not shy away from this feeling. He's done doing that, and as unseeing eyes scan over him, he stares head-on. He imagines sparks flying as if they forged some fated rivalry, but the intense gaze passes by without so much as lingering before coming to rest on the face-paint man (Kankuro?) again.

Upon noticing the attention cast on him, Kankuro's eyes widen, and Naruto might be dumb, but he's not foolish enough not to see that the terror that flashes through his eyes is genuine. He opens his mouth to speak, and Naruto almost winces at the pathetic tone. "S-Sorry, Gaara. But they came onto us first, and-"

"Shut up." No-brows's voice takes an edge, and he continues, "Or I'll kill you." Naruto and Sasuke's eyes meet for half a heartbeat. There is real, malicious killing intent poignant in the air, and they are not the only ones who sense it. Sweat trickles down the side of Kankuro's face, and the woman with the fan beside him takes a step back.

"Right. Sorry," Kankuro mumbles.

Gaara turns to Sasuke, his eyes narrowing. "I apologize for any trouble he may have caused. He's just pathetic," he says, and Naruto finds himself agreeing. He's startled by that revelation, but he tells himself he's not wrong to think that. After all, he was the one who acted pettily and attacked them first.

As Gaara and Sasuke stare at each other, Naruto imagines that this time, there are really sparks flying between them, and he feels hurt. Sasuke is supposed to be his rival, and Gaara has the potential to be, but neither spares him a glance or a second thought. Gaara dissolves into a flurry of dust and reappears on the cobblestone path before them, and the trio starts walking away. It's an underwhelming ending to such a tense meeting.

"Wait!" Sakura speaks up in the heavy silence, and Naruto has to admit he admires her for having that courage. "I noticed that you guys are from the Hidden Sand Village. Sure, the Leaf and Sand are allied, but you shouldn't be here without good reason."

The woman (or can she be called a woman? She can't be too much older than them) with the fan turns and holds something up in her hand. "Don't you know? We're here from our village to take the Chunin Exams," she says. It's then that Naruto understands the "something" to be her identification papers. Sakura and Sasuke look shocked, and Naruto is left in the dust once again.

"What are the Chunin exams, Sakura?" he whisper-asks, embarrassed.

Sakura sighs and whispers back, "It's an exam that a Genin has to pass to be promoted to Chunin, okay? And they're here because the Hidden Leaf Village is hosting those exams. We learned this in class, you know." Naruto still doesn't really get it, but he nods and shuts up because it's evident that Sakura thinks of him as no more than just a fly.

"You don't know what the Chunin exams are?" Naruto is once again subjected to that piercing gaze from Gaara, and this time he does not hold it. He cannot. "It seems this year's Genin are not only soft but dumb as well."

They resume their walking, feet pattering against the uneven cobblestone in a tune only they seem to understand, and Naruto frowns as Sasuke speaks up again because he wants them gone.

"Hold on—you with the gourd. What's your name?" Sasuke asks bluntly. His hands are shoved in his pockets and his stance loose, but Naruto knows him too well not to notice the way his shoulders tense as he asks the question.

"I am Gaara of the Desert." Naruto finds himself wrestling with the image of Gaara sitting upon a cone of ice cream. "Who are you?"

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha." At this point, Naruto can't handle that he's being looked down on the way he is. It's crushing, being insignificant, and he's had enough of that in his life.

"Well, my name is Naruto Uzumaki!" he declares loudly because if someone doesn't look at him, see him right now, he's going to burst. It's always him who falls behind, him who is ignored and hated and treated like scum by the village. I'm a person, too! I have feelings! he wants to shout but forces himself to swallow back the words.

Gaara doesn't even turn around. "I don't care," he says coldly, maliciously. And Naruto tries so hard not to be discouraged by this because he's lived with this his whole life, but there is only so much his heart can take. As Gaara walks away, he fades like a rock gently weathered away by water until there is nothing left.

* * *

"Don't you think it's unfair?" Sakura asks as the three lounge around at their meeting spot on the bridge. "Kakashi Sensei calls us out at such an early time and doesn't show up himself."

"Sure," Naruto mumbles in reply. Sasuke shoots him a strange look, and Naruto is glad because, unlike Gaara, at least he looks at him like he's seeing a person. Still, Naruto turns away because it's none of his business. What would he know?

"Are you okay, Naruto?" Sakura asks. It seems she's caught on to his odd behavior as well, and Naruto feels tears welling up behind his eyes.

"I'm fine, Sakura! I'm just thinking about some stuff. Anyway, you're right. Kakashi Sensei's totally unfair," Naruto says. His voice comes out too loud even for his own ears, but he decides it's okay because he wants to drown out the sound of his helplessness. He crosses his arms and gives a childlike pout.

Sasuke starts to open his mouth, as if wanting to say something, and Naruto and Sakura both stare as he struggles. He's never tried to speak up like this unless he was fighting with Naruto or pointing out some flaw or annoyance. "If," he starts, before his voice cracks. He clears his throat, shifting his eyes away. "If there's something wrong, you should speak up, dobe. I don't want you dragging down our team."

Slowly, Naruto and Sakura's eyes move from Sasuke to lock onto each other's, mouths falling open.

"Did he just...?" Sakura whispers ever so softly as if she would scare Sasuke away if she spoke any louder, and Naruto nods mutely in reply. There is nothing he can say because in all his life, nothing prepared him for such a statement from Sasuke.

"He's worried," Sakura breathes. "He's worried about you."

Sasuke glares at Sakura, visibly tensing as his fingertips turn white as he curls his hands into fists. "I'm not worried about anyone. I'd just rather not have this idiot becoming a burden," he says pointedly.

"Hey," Naruto pipes up. "You're alive because of this idiot. I happened to save your life when we were fighting Haku, you know. If I hadn't been there, you would've died." He realizes a split second too late that it's still too soon to speak of that incident, much less do so in such a crude fashion, and Sasuke's face clouds over quicker than rain would fall from a dark sky.

"Well maybe I didn't need the idiot's help because I could've handled things myself," he snaps. His brows are furrowed in what Naruto guesses is anger or frustration; he's not sure, but he rises to the bait.

"If the idiot didn't save you, you would've died!" Naruto's voice turns indignant and whiny, but he's too far past to care anymore. "You should be more grateful, you know! You can't always do everything yourself."

Sasuke's mouth twists into a cruel smirk, and Naruto thinks it looks much, much stranger than if he were genuinely smiling, despite how rare that is as well. "I'd rather do things myself and die than owe someone like you my life," Sasuke says harshly. Naruto doesn't think he's ever seen Sasuke show this much emotion, even on that bridge when he nearly gave his life for his.

Hands curling into fists, Naruto takes a wild swing at Sasuke knowing full well he'll dodge the blow easily. "Don't you dare think of life as something someone can just throw away!" Naruto shouts, and he curses Sasuke in his mind. Curses his attitude, his stupid hair, his face he wishes he could say was unattractive but knows it's just the opposite, and most of all how he stands above everyone else without having put in even half the effort.

Sasuke turns quickly and lands a blow across Naruto's face. There's barely a moment of reprieve before the Uchiha descends upon him, fists raised and rage in his eyes. For a moment Naruto thinks he can see hints of red in the gaze, but it's gone the moment knuckles meet his cheek. He tries to block Sasuke as he keeps going, but he's so weak, too weak, and he wishes he could be better than this.

"Sasuke, stop!" Sakura cries out. Naruto feels annoyance flit at the edge of his mind—even through all this, Sakura's only ever seen Sasuke, and she makes no move to stop him, standing there as she feebly voices her concerns. If she really cared, she'd do something, Naruto thinks, and a pit opens up in his chest. Is he really so hopeless?

But the next hit doesn't come as a gloved hand intercepts Sasuke's, and Kakashi drags them apart.

"Yo," he says nonchalantly as if his student getting beaten up is an ordinary occurrence. "Sorry for being late. I got lost on the path of life." Naruto just yanks himself out of his grasp and turns away, holding back tears that sting at the backs of his eyes. He doesn't have the will to put up with his teacher's excuses for being late.

A stifling moment descends as Naruto feels Sasuke's gaze heavy on his back and Sakura explains the situation in a hushed tone to Kakashi. No doubt she's victimizing Sasuke, making Naruto the bad guy.

Kakashi lets out a sigh as Sakura finishes speaking, but he doesn't come to berate Naruto like he thought he would. "Well, I hope you guys will be able to put this behind you because I've recommended all three of you to take the Chunin Exams."

Naruto slowly turns back to look at his teacher. "The... the Chunin Exams?" he says.

"That's right," Kakashi replies. "All three of you have the potential to become a Chunin already. You've proven yourself to me in the Land of Waves as well as in the way you coordinate. You're all strong enough." He holds out three sheets of paper, each with their names on them. Naruto takes his, stepping back and staring down at it. If this happened earlier, while he was still naive, he would have accepted without hesitation. But now the uneasy feeling residing in his chest won't leave and it seems Sasuke and Sakura are the same.

"I don't know," Sakura starts, but Kakashi smiles with his single eye.

"At least think about it," he says. "I wouldn't have recommended you if I didn't think you could handle it. Besides, we still have a bit of time to train before the Exams take place—I'll make sure you guys know well enough before going in." He disappears with a puff of air and leaves the three of them alone with their thoughts.

Sakura is the first to speak after a moment of silent thinking. "I'm going to take the Exams," she says. Sasuke and Naruto look up at her in surprise, but she has her back to them. "I know I'm not as strong as you two, and I know I've got a long way to go. There's so much I still have to unpack, but... if we do this, we can learn."

"Sakura. We're not taking the exams." Sasuke's voice is grating, and for a moment Naruto thinks Sakura will cave because it's her precious Sasuke telling her they're not going to, right?

But she turns around and the resolve in her voice has not changed. "Yes, we are. Because if we stay as we are now, you're going to be trapped behind that stone wall of your own minds forever. It's going to be the end of you. Both of you."

Naruto and Sasuke look at each other, silently communicating everything they could not voice, and face back toward Sakura. They share a nod, and she gives a grin.

Naruto thinks this is the first time Sakura has spoken to both of them like equals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right!! So I'm finally getting into the Chuunin Exams, and the pace of the plot should pick up a little more from here on out. I just wanted to lay down a bit of groundwork first.
> 
> In addition, I am definitely planning on Sakura getting more development. She was kind of disappointing in the actual series (at least to me), so I'm going to rewrite her a bit in a way I think would be more realistic and go better with the flow of this particular story. Kakashi will also start to play a larger role.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Constructive criticism is always appreciated.


End file.
